What’s Your Preference?

shawnhopkins · #1 (**permalink**) 07-12-2011, 04:35 AM

My Nephew Owen was born on July 1st. I had to consider a lot of details other than just the photograph.

1) My sister wasn't feeling well because she had just given birth via a c-section, so I did not want to use a flash for 800 pictures.

2) I kept thinking of how she felt so I was as quiet as I could be as visitors came in.

3) I had to keep my eyes open for those moments.

4) I did not just photograph my nephew, I photographed the other kids and visitors and how they all interacted with each other.

5) Because I can only afford entry level equipment I have to take my time and hope to get the right shot. I used a Nikon D3000 and a 35mm 1.8G lens set mostly on ISO 200 and 400 with noise reduction enabled. Although with the D3000, lightroom reported the focal length at around 52mm since it's not a full frame camera. I tried using the 70-300mm zoom lens for closeups but that doesn't work so well when the baby is in the "holding tank". Simply because I have to stand back and then zoom in with nothing to stand on to elevate me.

6) My goal was to document the day with a wide range of pictures. I wanted to candidly get all members of the family interacting with Owen. But I also wanted to get Owne's two big sisters ages 3 and 7 interacting in the environment. I got a few nice ones of my 3 year old niece trying to borrow the hspital toothbrush to brush her teeth. I did a refelction in the mirror shot on that moment. I als o got some nice moments of her holding Owen and smiling.

7) I also wanted a lot of pictures. Well I got 800 that day and 200 the next.

8) I also kept in mind again how my sister felt. When everyone left the room to go home I made sure she was comfortable and left as well. She needed her rest.

9) Another factor was lighting. I do need to practice using my flash on different powers. I have a Nikon SB-600 with a lightbox diffusor, but I wanted the natural light from the windows. Also, using the flash would have introduced yet another light source (florescent, daylight, flash). But the flash would have allowed me to not have to use ISO 100 or 200 primarily.

10) I honeslty liked just using the 35mm lens because it was quicker for me to move my feet and in a small hospital room the wider angle works well.

11) For post production I converted some pictures to black and white and adjusted the pictures in light room for florescent white balance. For the ones I took closer to the window I used a daylight setting.

12) There was not any room for a tripod so all of the pictures were done handheld.

13) I switched between metering modes. I used spot or center weighted near the windows and matrix deeper in to the room. I did use spot metering on the brighter lit florescent areas.

So here is the picture that I decided to include here. I choose this picture because there are three subjects in the picture that provide depth. I was practically against a wall when I took this and I do wish I would have gotten more of Owen in the picture. But basically Owen is at the front, his oldest sister looking in on him and mom is resting towards the back of the picture.

Nikon D3000, Nikon 35mm (52mm) F1.8 lens
Shutter:1/60th
Aperture: F/1.8
ISO 400,
No Flash, Spot Metering, Pinpoint Focus.

So basically what I learned from this was environment and a bit of pressure. I got a ton of pictures to look back on. While I could have brought in props as do professional photographers, I feel I created much more memorable pictures for myself and my family.
I feel these are memories frozen in time. Something you can not capture with props and poses. I do wish I would have composed more pictures with the entire family in them. I did get a few but I feel I could have done better.

Hope this experience helps someone.